CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — George Osterhues said if Tom Hall and his family hadn't come along when they did, he might have died.

Osterhues, 87, was continuing his trip from Ottawa, Canada to Florida when he took a detour off the interstate just before noon on Sunday and ended up on a country road that runs across a creek. When he got there, the creek had overrun its banks and covered the road. Osterhues found himself stuck in it.

“Some people were turning around and I was trying to do the same thing, but I was already a little too far,” he said.

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About the same time, Tom Hall was out scouting the roads to see if anyone might need help. He said the creek feeds into a small lake and often floods in heavy downpours.

He pulled up to the creek and could see there was trouble.

“We got to about right here, and we could see his car, which is all the way down there,” Hall told WSOC as he stood alongside the still-raging water. Using tree branches to steady himself, he took a chance and waded into the water to get closer to the car, praying it was empty – it wasn’t.

“I saw some movement, and then he raised his hand and waved at me, and that kind of broke my heart because I knew at that point we had to go back and get him,” Hall said. By the time he spotted him, Osterhues had been in the water for a couple of hours. Hall managed to get close enough to the car to tell Osterhues that he would be back then went to get his family, a life preserver and some cord -- anything he could use to get Osterhues out of the raging water.

He set out into the water one more time.

“The water was so strong he could hardly move, and I couldn't move either. I wasn't able to move,” Osterhues said.

“I went to the window, and the water was about up to here,” Hall said drawing a line across the middle of his chest with his hand. He was ready to pull Osterhues out of the window, but there was a problem.

He was clutching his small dog, Tila, and wasn’t about to let her go.

“George was very calm. I begged him to leave the dog, but he said, 'The dog is going with us,'” Osterhues said.

Against Hall’s better judgment, he started towing the two toward shore.

“I didn't want to leave the dog, so I took the dog too,” Osterhues said with a smile Monday as he cradled the dog in his arms.

It took almost an hour, but with the help of his son and wife, Hall managed to pull Osterhues to safety.

With no car and no one else nearby, the Halls invited Osterhues to stay with them Sunday night and were arranging for a hotel and rental car so he could keep on his way to Florida.

The floodwaters that rose so quickly had fallen back Monday, leaving a friendship that will last much longer.

“They already did too much for me. They have a big family to take care of and now me on top of that,” Osterhues said.

Update 4:50 p.m. Aug. 28: The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said on Monday afternoon that it was not immediately able to confirm a report that a family of six was swept away by floodwaters and killed on Sunday.

Houston police Chief Art Acevedo earlier told The Associated Press that he had no information on the reported drowning, but he told the wire service that he is "really worried about how many bodies we're going to find" from Harvey's devastating flooding.

At this time, we are unable to confirm a media report that 6 people in a white van were swept away by flooding on Sunday afternoon. #harvey

Three members of the unidentified family told KHOU that four children were in a van with their great-grandparents and great-uncle Sunday when it was swept up by the current of flood waters as the van crossed a bridge in Greens Bayou.

The news station reported that the van’s driver, the children’s great-uncle, was able to escape and cling onto a tree branch. He told the trapped children to escape from the van’s back door, but they were not able to, according to KHOU.

The news station said the victims were an 81-year-old woman, her 84-year-old husband, a 16-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy, an 8-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl.

Authorities did not immediately verify the report, and no bodies have been recovered.

Houston police Chief Art Acevedo told The Associated Press that he had no information on the reported drowning, but he told the wire service that he is "really worried about how many bodies we're going to find" from Harvey's devastating flooding.

On Monday alone, authorities said they rescued hundreds of people from floodwaters in the Houston area.

Southeast Texas was battered by strong winds and torrential rains starting on Friday, when then-Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the Gulf Coast. It was downgraded to a tropical storm Saturday, but continued to dump rain over the area.

Jill Renick, 48, checked into the Omni Houston Hotel with her dog Saturday before the city flooded, KHOU reported. She worked as the spa director for the hotel, at Riverway and South Post Oak Lane, according to KPRC.

“She couldn’t walk away,” Pam Eslinger, Renick’s sister, told KHOU. “The place was flooded. At final point there, it was 20 feet underwater in the lobby.”

She told the news station her sister’s last known conversation was with one of her co-workers, “saying, ‘I’m in an elevator. The water is rushing in. Please help me.’”

Authorities told KHOU that they were investigating reports of a body in the basement, although it wasn’t clear whether the body was Renick’s. Gary Norman, spokesman for Houston’s Office of Emergency Management, told the Chronicle on Wednesday that search efforts were hampered by the depth of the floodwater in the hotel, which was also contaminated with oil and gas.

“Of course, I’m hoping she’s still alive. I’m hoping that we find her soon,” Eslinger told KHOU. “As every minute ticks by, I’m still trying to keep the faith. I just want her back.”

In a statement released to KPRC, an Omni Hotel representative said the company’s employees are working with authorities in an effort to find Renick.

“We pray our associate will be located safe and unharmed,” the statement said. “In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers go out to our associate’s family during this difficult time.”

More than 30 people have been killed as a result of Harvey, which made landfall on the coast of Texas late Friday as a Category 4 hurricane.

Officials recovered the body of Sgt. Steve Perez, a 34-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, on Tuesday morning.

"He was a sweet, gentle public servant," police Chief Art Acevedo said Tuesday at an emotional news conference. "He wasn't just taken from the Houston Police Department ... he was taken from the people of Houston."

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the tragic in the line of duty death of Sergeant Steve Perez. pic.twitter.com/cHJxjnFgII

Acevedo said Perez left his home for work at 4 a.m. Sunday as heavy rain fell in Houston. Perez was assigned to the city's traffic enforcement division, but he was unable to find a path to the station. During a roll call on Monday, his colleagues realized that Perez was missing from work. Authorities called his wife, who said she had not seen her husband since 4 a.m. the previous day.

"He was seeking to serve this city and all those who would come to our city," Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

"I've got work to do," Perez told wife, who urged him to reconsider reporting for duty.

Authorities found his vehicle on Monday night. The Houston Chronicle, the first organization to report on Perez’s death, reported that his patrol car was found at Interstate 45 and the Hardy Toll road.

"It was too treacherous to go under (into the floodwaters) and look for him," Acevedo said, his voice cracking with emotion. He said officers kept watch over the area overnight. On Tuesday morning, a dive team was able to recover his body.

Police chief: Wife of officer who drowned in Texas told him not to work Sunday. He replied, "We've got work to do." https://t.co/EhdKRRj6GD

"In the darkness, Sgt. Perez drove under an underpass and drove into the water," Acevedo said.

"He was trying different routes, and took a wrong turn," an unidentified official told the Chronicle earlier Tuesday.

More than a dozen people have died in the days since Harvey slammed into the Texas coast on Friday, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Harvey made landfall in Rockport as a Category 4 hurricane with winds topping 130 mph. It was downgraded Saturday to a tropical storm.

— As Tropical Storm Harvey continued to wreak havoc on Texas Sunday, one photo of a battered, but still standing, Whataburger sign has come to take on a meaning of resilience to the thousands who shared the photo on social media.

According to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the city wasn’t hit as hard by Harvey as other cities close by, but the impact of “downed trees and power lines, broken and twisted signs, debris in the roadway, widespread power outrages and some partially torn roofs” was still felt.

As of late Sunday night, the Whataburger sign photo had been shared on Facebook more than 25,000 times and had garnered almost 4,000 reactions.

Many people equated the Whataburger orange and white with Texas pride, and others took it as a sign of the Texan spirit of resilience.

While the photo is meant to be lighthearted, Harvey is far from over. While the Austin metro area isn’t supposed to see much more rain in the next few days, the tropical storm is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico around Matagorda Bay by Monday evening before moving back toward to the southeast Texas coast on Tuesday into Wednesday.